Page:Travels in the Air, Glaisher, 2nd ed.djvu/13

 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

A Second Edition enables me to speak concerning the use of the balloon during the siege of Paris.

When I laid down my pen a few months ago, I little thought that a new chapter was about to be added to the History of Aërostation, and that the time when the balloon would take its place as a necessary means of communication was so near at hand. Although, in common with my colleagues, I had long hoped to see more attention paid to the improvement of aërial navigation, still it is painful to reflect that the stimulus has been afforded by the misfortunes of France.

I had long felt satisfied that the balloon could be used with great advantage to explore the ocean overhead. As a philosophical instrument, although rude, costly, and most unmanageable, it had so many good points about it, that I was hopeful—as will be seen from the narratives in the body of the work—that its use would be attended with varied and important benefits to science. But an invention, however beautiful or interesting, unless it commends itself to some definitely expressed interest, or fulfils a purpose generally understood, is apt to languish. The balloon is a case in point. The necessity of exploring the aërial ocean, and seeking within its depths for the causes of atmospheric phenomena, has never yet been generally recognized. Situated at the lower confines of the atmosphere, we are limited in our observation of forces which, expended upon the earth, are conceived and regulated above. To trace the origin of these forces, to visit them in operation, to enter upon the boundless sea of inquiry they open, are sufficient reasons why physicists should